


Unpleasant Revelations

by afteriwake



Series: And Now I'm Learning You [21]
Category: Doctor Who, Sherlock (TV), Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-04
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-02-19 21:36:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2403737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thanks to a mistake on Mycroft's part Sherlock's mother wants to push for a reconciliation between his family and Carlton Holmes, and Khan knows he doesn't know nearly enough about the man he's pretending to be to pull it off. Sherlock tells him there might be a solution, but there's also a complication, in that the real Carlton had memories of Khan's actual life in his home universe. They go to the Doctor for help, and in an attempt to start unraveling the mystery the Doctor makes a surprising and troubling discovery on just how Khan and Sherlock are connected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unpleasant Revelations

**Author's Note:**

> And this is where things start getting connected! As I said, this story and the next are not really shippy because they're more explaining the idea I had for how the three men can look identical while only two of them are related to each other. I had a lot of fun coming up with the twist.

A week after Khan proposed Sherlock called Molly and asked if the three of them could talk. She was nervous about this conversation, but she agreed in the end once Khan has said he was willing. The vast majority of her friends were pleased with the news of her engagement but Sherlock hadn't said anything one way or the other when she told him, other than a quiet “Congratulations.” She was terrified he was going to try and talk her out of it. She wasn't going to do it, of course, but if he really objected she was going to end up losing a friend over it. As it stood she and Khan were sitting on a park bench with hot beverages in their hands, waiting for Sherlock to join them. She was playing with her engagement ring, twisting it on her finger, when she heard a throat clear. She looked up and saw Sherlock standing there, giving her a small smile. “Hello,” he said.

“Hi,” she said as Khan nodded in his general direction. 

Khan watched Sherlock sit down on Molly's other side. “I'm surprised we aren't doing this at your home,” he said.

“It involves the particular fiction that is going to tie us together for the rest of our lives. John and Mrs. Hudson don't know it, and they never will, but it's safer to speak away from them.”

“We could have done this at _our_ home, then,” Molly pointed out.

“Fresh air is supposed to be good for you. John keeps encouraging me to leave the house,” Sherlock said, just a bit sullenly. “I'm doing it to get him to stop harping at me. And we need to pay a visit to the Doctor, but I'll get to that in a moment.”

“What exactly did you want to talk to us about?” Khan asked him.

“Your relationship,” Sherlock said.

Molly got angry all of a sudden. “I'm going to marry Khan whether you or Mycroft like it or not,” she said in an angry tone. “You are one of my closest friends, and I'm friendly enough with Mycroft, I suppose, but neither of you get to dictate what type of relationship I have with him.”

Sherlock's eyes widened. “I'm not here to talk you out of it. Mycroft might be mildly concerned but I'm genuinely happy for the two of you. When you told me it just caught me by surprise, which it probably shouldn't have.”

“Then what's the problem?” Khan asked, a frown on his face.

“Mycroft might have let it slip to my mother that the two of you were engaged,” he said.

“Oh, no,” Molly groaned.

“It gets better. She wants to make amends with Carlton because she wants to be invited to the wedding. And she wants to meet you, Molly.”

“No. Absolutely not,” she said, shaking her head. “Neither Khan nor I know enough about your family's history to pull off him really being your brother. This is a lie that all of us need to be able to keep together, and that would make it fall apart. I don't want to trust your parents with this secret.”

“Frankly, neither do I. Mycroft and I aren't particularly close to them, though they do keep trying. They've reached out much more frequently when it was revealed I wasn't dead after all. Of course, Mycroft told me neither of them had come to my funeral so that's soured my opinion of them.” Sherlock leaned forward. “She's becoming most insistent.”

“Well, she's just going to have to accept the disappointment,” Khan said with a shrug. “I'm sorry if it makes your life hell but I can't really pass as your brother and we both know that. The only reason most people don't question me about his childhood is because...” He trailed off into silence as a woman and a young child approached. The three of them watched them walk by them, heading towards the play structure. When they were out of earshot he spoke again. “Is because your brother was more or less a recluse,” he finished. “Most people didn't even realize you _had_ a second brother until you came back from the dead and they saw there were two of us.”

“At some point my mother is going to be obsessed with this enough to track you both down herself. If you don't do what needs to be done she's going to catch us in a lie and the whole thing will go to hell.” 

“And just what needs to be done?” Khan asked, sounding a bit irritated.

“The Doctor has a way of letting you have Carlton's memories,” Sherlock said quietly.

“But he's dead,” Molly said, surprised.

“The Doctor travels through time, remember? He can find him at an early point in his life and transfer over his memories. And _just_ his memories, nothing more.

Khan looked at him intently and then sighed. “I don't get a choice, do I?” he asked.

“Mycroft assumed you'd rather have me tell you than him.”

“I'd probably have knocked him out if he'd attempted to do that, since this is all his fault anyway,” he said, grumbling slightly.

Sherlock was quiet for a moment. “There might be a complication, however,” he finally said.

“Wonderful,” Khan murmured. “What is it?”

“I've done more research into what exactly happened to my brother before he died,” Sherlock said. “He was showing some atypical behaviours for someone with schizophrenia. He had a complete set of other memories in his head.” He paused for a moment. “They were your memories, Khan. Memories of your life in your universe.”

Khan blinked. “That's not possible. I never set foot in this universe until I got dropped in Molly's bedroom.”

“The homeless man I talked to about my brother when I was taking down Moriarty's network managed to contact me. He was in a hospital dying of liver failure. I got there and the doctors said he had a day or so left to live. The man had an eidetic memory, and he told me all about my brother and the strange things he had talked about. He felt someone should know Carlton's true story before he died.” Sherlock leaned back and looked over at Khan. “There were large chunks of what that man told me that you've talked about, and that man said things you've said verbatim.”

“That's not possible,” Molly said, her eyes wide.

“I'm starting to suspect that you weren't pulled into this universe randomly,” Sherlock said. “And I think you and my brother have been connected for far longer than any of us knew.”

“Then why don't I have any of his memories?” Khan asked.

“I'm not sure, and neither is the Doctor. But he wants to find out.” He was quiet for a few minutes, and neither Molly nor Khan spoke. “Mycroft doesn't know any of this. I'm keeping it from him until we get answers, if we can get any at all,” Sherlock said quietly when he finally spoke. “But I don't think my brother was schizophrenic. And I don't think it's a coincidence you and I look nearly identical.”

Khan appeared to think about something. “I have never been told much about the set of DNA that was used to create me,” he said. “I was told it was someone named Sherlock Holmes, but that was all. I don't know how old he was or anything that might have been wrong with him or if it really was just my universe's version of you. But I think this is something I want answers to as well.”

Sherlock nodded and stood, and after a moment Molly and Khan did the same thing. “The Doctor is just outside the entrance to the park. He wanted to see if you were willing to get answers or you wanted to ignore all of this.”

“I may not have the same drive to find answers that you have, but when it comes to my past I'd rather know than not know,” Khan said as he reached over for Molly's hand. “Lead the way.”

Sherlock began walking at his normal fast pace, and while Khan and Molly kept up they hung back slightly. “This all seems so strange,” she said as they walked. “Is there really a connection between you and his brother?”

“I don't know,” he said. “But I want to find out. I think this is something that ties into why I was sent here and Moriarty's role in all of this. I think there is something much larger at work here.”

“But what about James and the others?” she asked. “If you were brought here for a reason, they might have been as well.”

“Or it might have been a strange coincidence,” he said. “Sherlock may not believe in coincidence but I don't hold the same view.” He tightened his hold on her hand. “Hopefully we can get answers.”

“Yeah,” she said with a nod. They made their way out of the park and they saw the TARDIS on the corner. Sherlock was there waiting for them, and he opened the door and they stepped inside. The Doctor was waiting nearby, looking kind of nervous. “Hello, Doctor.”

“I wish this visit was under better circumstances,” he said. “But this is a mystery that doesn't sit well with me. I think all of us are connected by something huge, and it concerns me. I can't get answers until I see inside your head, Khan.”

“Is it going to hurt?” he asked.

The Doctor was quiet. “Normally it doesn't. But I'm not sure what I'll find when I start poking around.” He gestured to the chair by the console. “Go ahead and sit down. You might as well get comfortable.” Khan squeezed Molly's hand one more time before he let go and moved to the chair. The Doctor stood in front of him, with Sherlock and Molly hovering behind him. He placed his fingers on either side of Khan's temple and shut his eyes. “Go back to your earliest memory.”

“Doctor, I remember every moment of my life since birth,” Khan said. “It was part of the genetic engineering.”

“Even better,” he said. “Go back to your birth.”

Khan shut his eyes and both he and the Doctor were quiet for quite a few minutes. And then Khan's eyes snapped open and they were wide, and the Doctor pulled his hands away quickly. “Is everything all right?” Sherlock asked, sounding concerned.

“Clones,” the Doctor said quietly. “Your brother and Khan were clones.”

“How is that even _possible_?” Sherlock asked, shocked.

“Someone else in Khan’s universe created the ability to travel between universes,” the Doctor said, and he looked visibly angry. “When it was decided that Carlton was not a viable clone they were going to destroy him. Someone took a prototype device to travel through universes and specifically came to this universe, and they had a specific target to find: your parents, who had just had you a few weeks prior.”

“So Carlton really isn't my brother?” Sherlock asked.

“No, he's not. But the two of you were identical. The person who brought Carlton here knew that you would grow up looking exactly the same.”

“How can you tell that from looking at Khan's memories?” Molly asked, slightly confused.

“Because Khan was here, too,” he said quietly. “Only he got sent back by the prototype and his memories were altered. But Carlton and Khan were linked, even across universes. For some reason Khan couldn't remember Carlton, but Carlton lived through everything Khan did. He was living two different lives at once.”

“When did I get taken back? And how?” Khan asked, leaning back in the chair and looking up at the Doctor with wide eyes.

“Hours after you got here,” he said. “The arrangement was for one child, not two. The person who took you got a doctored birth certificate for Carlton and he had one for you as well, but Sherlock's mother refused to take you so the person who brought you had to send you back after he’d altered everyone's memories to convince them that Carlton and Sherlock really were twins.”

“Who brought me here?” he asked, beginning to get angry.

“Someone who said they represented the Great Intelligence,” he said. “Their name was never spoken, and they were constantly covered by a hood. In your memories you have no idea who they are, and I can't use them to help figure that particular mystery out.”

“So I could have lived a life here?” Khan said, becoming even angrier. “I could have lived a life where I wasn't a living, breathing weapon? And it was because of some _arrangement_ that I got sent back to that life?” He stood up quickly, and the Doctor took a step back, looking just a bit scared.

“Khan,” Molly said quietly, moving towards him. He still looked angry as she put her arms around him, but after a few minutes he began to visibly calm down, and eventually he embraced her back.

“I think when you found that Weeping Angel it sent you to a place you've been before,” the Doctor said. “I mean, not the _exact_ time and place, but this universe was a place you had gone to before and it had to have known that. When it decided to send you back in time it also sent you here, as opposed to back in time _there_.”

“Does my mother remember this arrangement she agreed to?” Sherlock asked.

The Doctor shook his head. “The memories of everyone in your family was modified. Even yours, I imagine, even though you were only a few weeks old when it happened, and I'd assume the memories of the doctor who delivered you and the hospital staff were altered as well.”

“That's disturbing,” Sherlock said quietly.

“So what do we do now?” Khan asked.

“I'm not going to attempt to give you Carlton's memories. It's too risky. What happened to him could very well happen to you and you could go mad, and you have too much of a future here to put that at risk,” the Doctor said. “As much as I hate to do it, I can implant a suggestion to Sherlock's mother and father that they want to have nothing to do with Carlton Holmes or John Harrison. As far as they will be concerned, he is no longer part of the Holmes family and he never will be again. But this might cause problems for you and Mycroft, Sherlock. For the suggestion to work they're going to have to despise Carlton. If you and your eldest brother associate with Khan, they may hate you and Mycroft as well and want nothing to do with either of you.”

“All the better,” Sherlock said. The Doctor looked at him with wide eyes and he shrugged. “Mycroft and I would prefer to be estranged from our parents than have them involved in our lives. Mycroft has an entire folder of things he despises our parents for, while I have a very long list. If they choose to have nothing to do with us, good riddance.”

“All right then,” the Doctor said with a nod. “I'll take care of it. And when I'm done, I think I would very much like to start unraveling whatever this Great Intelligence is. If they connected the two of you for a reason I would like to know what that reason is.”

“I would like to be included in what you find out,” Sherlock said. “I can accompany you at times as well.”

“And you too, Khan?” the Doctor asked.

Khan nodded. “I would appreciate it,” he said.

“Do you want to join us?” the Doctor asked him.

Khan shook his head. “I'm not in the mood to leave my home for any extended period of time. I want to actually set up a life for myself instead of putting that on hold for God knows how long.”

“That's understandable,” the Doctor said with a nod. “Sherlock, let me go get what I need to make sure the suggestion sticks. And then you need to introduce me to your parents. Khan, Molly, you can stay for this if you want. The choice is yours.”

Molly pulled away and looked up at Khan, shaking her head. Khan nodded slightly and then looked at the Doctor. “We'll leave you now,” he said.

“All right. And congratulations, by the way. I should have told you that first.”

“Thank you,” Molly said.

The Doctor looked at Sherlock. “Let's get things set up.”

Sherlock nodded as the Doctor moved away from the console. “I'll let you know what we find out,” he said to Khan. “Hopefully as soon as we find things out.”

“Thank you,” Khan said with a nod.

“Make sure you come back for the wedding,” Molly said, moving towards Sherlock.

“I won't miss it, I promise,” he said with a slight smile before leaning over and kissing her cheek. “I'll see you both later.” And with that he went to go join the Doctor.

Khan looked over at Molly and then reached over for her hand. “I think this is going to take some time to deal with,” he said.

“Whatever you need me to do I'll do,” she said, squeezing his hand. “We're going to be stuck together for the rest of our lives so you'll have to get used to me doing that.”

He gave her a faint smile. “Thank you, Molly.”

She leaned over and kissed him softly. “Come on. Let's get going and tell Mycroft the problem he got all of us into is about to be solved, but not in the way he expected.”

“He's going to take that _so_ well,” Khan said with a sigh as they began to make their way to the door. “I suppose I'll make that particular call.” Once they got to the door he opened it and they stepped outside. She knew that this was going to take some time for him to come to grips with, but she also hoped that as long as she was there it would be all right in the end. What she hoped for most of all, though, that as the Doctor and Sherlock went about solving this mystery it didn't turn into a monumental headache. That was the last thing any of them needed.


End file.
